At the tender age of 12, fifth grader Katak Darji was headed to Nainital, India with hopes of earning some money to help his family eke out a living. It was not a choice but rather a compulsion for Darji hailing from remote Gotri-2 in impoverished Bajura district. However, his journey came to an abrupt and tragic end when the bus he was travelling on met with an accident.
A victim of the passenger bus accident at Kalikhola in Pokharikanda, Surkhet, the accident not only shattered his dreams but also cost the life of his elder brother Ram Bahadur.
The brothers had walked one and a half days from Gotri in eastern Bajura and taken the bus completely unaware of the fate that lay ahead for them.
Scared and praying the worst is over, Darji was frantically searching for his brother in the hospital on Monday. But after learning that he died in the accident, Darji was for a moment unable to come to terms with the tragedy.
Recalling how he had managed to bring back home Rs 6,000 after working for five months in Nainital, last year, Darji said that he had tagged along with his brother as it would have been easier to find work with his help.
However, Darji was not the only one who had to go through such a terrible ordeal. Similar is the fate of seventh grader Hikmat Damai, who headed to India after it had become hard for his family to make ends meet.
About three dozen people from Gotri were onboard the bus, of which 16 lost their lives while others were injured.
But for most of the passengers onboard the bus from Bajura, heading to India in mid-Nov and returning by mid-May has been a way of living—or rather the only way to support their families back home.
26.12°C Kathmandu
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